Improvement in locks



'UNITED Sra-Tons PnTENT OFFICE.

RANDOLPH S. FOSTER, OF SING SING, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, CORNELIUS WALSH, AND JOHN C. NOBLES.

IMPROVEMENT IN LOCKS.A

Speci-cation forming part of Letters Patent No. 39,004, dated June 23, 1563.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, RANDOLPH S. Fosrnn, of Sing Sing, in the county of Westchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trunk and other Locks using a Hasp; and I do hereby dcclarethe following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, Inaking a part of this specication, in which- Figure 1 represents a perspective view of the lock as attached to a section of a trunk body and lid. Fig. 2 represents a section through the tumblers and hasp-catch as they appear when locked. Fig. 3 representsa section through the tumblers as they appear when drawn back to admit the key. Fig. 4 represents a section through the tumblers as they appear when the key is inserted in the lock. Fig. 5 represents the tumblers detached.

Similar' letters of reference,where they occur in the separate figures, denote like parts in all the drawings.

My invention consists in the combined use` of -a slide and key with a pile or series of tumblers or bits for the purpose of arranging said tumblers to lock or unlock the hasp.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

A represents a box of iron or brass for conaining the tumblers, and B the face-plate of the lock. I have shown in the drawings live tumblers, marked, respectively, l 2 3 4 5, but may use a greater or less number without changing the general characteristics of the invention. The forms of these tumblers are shown in Fig. 5. Their outlines, as well as their openings, are rectangular, and hence easily stamped out with dies.

The tenons and mortises of the tumblers vary in position and in size,as seen in Fig. 5, and, in addition to these tenons and mortises or gains, they have slots a for the pin c of the slide b to operate in, and slots cl for the key Cl to enter.

The faceplate B, beside the ordinary screw or rivet holes for securing the lock to the trunk, has upon or in it the hasp-hole e. The keyhole f, which is escutcheoned to prevent it from enlarging or becoming bruised by use,has a slide, b, with an opening, g, for the slide-pin c to work through, and a beading, l1, to act as a protector to the hasp to prevent it from injury. The haspplate D, which is secured to the lid of the trunk, has pivoted to it the hasp E, which carries the catch-piece F, of peculiar form as to its opening,as seen in Fig. 1, and this hasp-plate has also a beading, i, which, when the trunk is locked, forms a continuation of that h on the face-plate, thus making a perfect protection to the hasp. The haspplate has also the necessary screw or rivet holes for securing it to the lid of the trunk, and the hasp has a pin, j, upon it,which,when the hasp is down and locked, enters a hole, k, in the face-plate, and-in entering compresses a spring, (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3,) so that when the catch of the hasp is released by the act of unlocking the bolt the said spring will throw out the hasp. rIhe shape of the key and its bits are distinctly shown in Fig. 4. When the tumblers are piled up in the box or lock,they are each acted upon by springs Z, that v throw them into the positions shown in Fig. 2, in which positions the tenons or arms of the tumblers are in the catch F of the hasp, and although the tumblers may all be drawn back against their springs by the slide b, yet this operation does not release the catch or hasp, because removing one set of. tenonsor arms draws in the opposite set, and they so interlock as never to be all out of the catch at the -same time, and, `however much or little the slide may be moved,has no effect in releasing the hasp without the action of the key C. When the slideb is drawn back, it places the tumblers in the positions shown in Fig. 3, which positions expose the key-slots d in line, so that the key may be introduced into the lock; but in these positions the hasp is still locked. The key being inserted, as shown in Fig. 4, and the slide b released, the tumblers are forced by their springs against the bits of the key,as shown in Fig. 4, in which positions the tenons or arms'of the tumblers are all drawn out of the hasp-catch, and the spring, pressing against the pin j ofthe hasp, throws out the hasp and leaves the mortises or gains of the tumblers in line, as distinctly shown in said Fig. 4. The key-hole being exceedingly small, it would be very difticult, if at all possible, to pick this lock; and, as the key is not required to move anything in the lock,

its operation being` passive rather than active, it may be made very small indeed, so much so as that n pick of the requisite strength to n1ove,hold,or even feel thetuinblers could not be made. The burying of the hnsp in the headings of the face ofthe lock and of the hasp-plate secures it against accident in hundling the trunk; and the notches in the hasp or catch, in connection with a multiple bolt,7 as the series of tu niblers may be ternied,gives increased security t0 the lock.

Having thus fully described my invention in trunk and other locks using n hnsp, WhatI olai 1n therein as new, und desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combined use, und in the mode described,of zt slide and key with a. pile or series of tumblers, for thepurpose of arranging said tuxnblers to lock or unlock the hasp, substantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

2. The notched hasp as tted to and used R. S. FOSTER.

Witnesses:

J oHN C. NoBLns, C. WALSH. 

